


Sheith Sleepy Ship Meme

by Kalira not fics (Kalira)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (mentioned in not huge detail), Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Not a Story, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sleep, ship meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 14:09:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15932048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira%20not%20fics
Summary: Fluffy, sleepy, and H/C headcanons/not!fic forthis ship memewith Sheith.





	Sheith Sleepy Ship Meme

**Author's Note:**

> [Mikkimouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse) asked for this one!
> 
> (Originally posted [here](http://kalira9.tumblr.com/post/177869775249/sheith-for-the-sleepy-ship-meme-d).)
> 
> Sheith! Sheith _fluffs_ even better!

**Do they cuddle together to sleep or not?**

Most of the time very much yes; they both sleep better when they know the other is close. Being _too_ close sometimes makes it hard to sleep, depending on what may have been bothering either of them recently, but even if they sometimes don’t feel comfortable being all tangled up together, they prefer to at least be touching somewhere.

Keith prefers to sleep between Shiro and the rest of the room (the world), and while Shiro took some coaxing and some time to get used to it, he sleeps better behind the little shelter Keith makes as well. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Who stays up later? Do they read in bed and cuddle or come to bed quietly later?**

These days it’s generally Keith, and he’s usually out either on the training deck or researching one of the places they’re going or he’s been. If the latter sometimes he’ll remember to bring it back to their room, but usually he forgets that’s even an option that might be desirable. (Shiro used to stay up later, mostly too on edge from anticipating his night terrors to sleep, but they’ve gotten a little better, especially since he doesn’t usually sleep alone any more.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Who falls asleep on the couch/elsewhere by mistake and who pouts because they were left alone in bed?**

Shiro never falls asleep anywhere by accident any more. Keith never brings it up but he kind of misses it both for knowing the reason Shiro is so much more alert now and because it was cute (and funny) back at the Garrison when he found Shiro slumped over his books and sound asleep, or sacked out in one of the library chairs.

Keith usually comes to bed, but on occasion falls asleep in odd places around the Castle - including in his Lion - and Shiro definitely pouts. And goes looking for him. If they are actually in the same place rather than being separated as they’ve spent _far_ too much time being, there is _no_ reason for them not to be sleeping together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Separate blankets? (Separate beds?)**

Separate beds only when they absolutely must; when they’re together separate blankets never. Both of them would rather be maybe not quite at the temperature they prefer than have layers of blankets between them, at this point.

Shiro gets cold easier, and is unhappier to _be_ cold when he is, but Keith is a solid little heater as well, so keeping him close under the blankets is Shiro’s preference anyway. Keith has a pretty good tolerance even for smothering heat (and is generally not terribly bothered by temperatures until they get pretty extreme) so he’s usually content to be slightly overheated with a couple of blankets over them and Shiro curled around him. Especially since it comes with _Shiro curled around him_.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Who wants _all the pillows_ and who shakes their head in disbelief from their _very reasonable_ single pillow?**

Much to Shiro’s surprise, if Keith is actually left to his own devices _and_ actually trying to make himself comfortable, he will make a nest of pillows in their bed. Shiro’s always been perfectly comfortable with one or at most two pillows, and it’s somewhat fascinating to see Keith - and Keith who he has watched seemingly content as he pares down almost everything to live sparely - stockpile them and nestle into the little plush hoard.

(Shiro thinks it’s sweet, and as it’s one of the few things Keith has actually ever seemed to want to make himself comfortable or at home, Shiro sometimes slips an extra pillow from somewhere else into their room for him.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Snoring?**

Neither of them unless they’re sick. When he’s very relaxed and deeply asleep Keith sometimes falls into making little breathy sounds and grumble-purrs, though, which surprised Shiro when he first heard them but are now a comforting thing to hear on the rare occasions they happen, if he wakes in the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Restless sleeper/kicks in their sleep?**

Shiro twitches and flails in his sleep sometimes if he’s having a nightmare, generally only when it’s getting very bad or he’s verging on waking up (or both). When he starts thrashing around it usually wakes Keith up, but on the occasions it doesn’t (when he’s particularly exhausted, for example) he usually shifts away from Shiro’s movements and sometimes plasters himself against Shiro without waking up.

A few times Shiro has woken up panting and shocky and been soothed by Keith’s slight, warm body pressed snug against him, still sleeping.

Keith either sleeps solid in exactly the same spot and position he fell asleep in _or_ he moves nearly constantly, rolling over, stretching, cuddling close to Shiro, etc. There’s almost no in between and it took Shiro some time to get used to, especially since there seems to be no real difference to Keith - unlike Shiro, his restlessness is not triggered by nightmares.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**_Talks_ in their sleep?**

When Shiro has been focusing too hard on something while he’s awake - studying at the Garrison, learning about new aliens/planets, battle plans - he sometimes mutters them to himself in his sleep, the same things he ran over endlessly while awake.

When the nightmares are bad sometimes he’ll start to cry out - for help, for Keith, in defiance, begging - before he wakes up.

Keith doesn’t talk in his sleep, but aside from his little breathy purring sounds sometimes he _hums_ , almost like he’s about to start singing. Shiro thinks it’s crazy but _adorable_ and he spent a little while on a few of their earlier nights together just watching Keith in charmed disbelief for a while when he had woken for some other reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Who has worse nightmares?**

These days? It’s _definitely_ Shiro, with his night terrors and PTSD. It always used to be Keith, who would get tangled up in his own imaginings and struggle against them and never wake from them on his own. Shiro’s old nightmares were more fleeting things and usually much easier to handle, whereas Keith’s have always been rather wretched and he tends to internalise them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**How do they handle their own/each other’s nightmares?**

Shiro’s night terrors are too bad to be denied or ignored, but if they weren’t he might try . . . but Keith is far too stubbornly devoted to looking after Shiro to ever let it work anyway. When Shiro wakes up all but screaming Keith is there to remind him where he is, reassure him he’s safe, that Keith would do _anything_ to keep him that way. When Shiro can handle it (sometimes it takes some coming down time after he first wakes up before he can really be comfortable being touched, even by Keith) Keith will hold and pet him protectively, offering whatever comfort and calm he can, whether Shiro can get back to sleep or not. Sometimes Shiro needs to be _up and moving_ and when he does Keith curls up at the edge of the bed to either talk to him or just be silently _present_ until he can settle again.

Keith is quiet about his nightmares and he never asks for help or reassurance after them. But when Shiro curls around him and tells him how much Shiro loves him, needs him, trusts him, _knows_ him, Keith never fights it either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Do they have trouble sleeping when they’re apart?**

Yes! It’s not a new thing, either, but it’s gotten stunningly worse with all the disasters they’ve been through. Fortunately it isn’t impossible for either of them - however much they dislike it, they spend a lot of time apart - but they don’t sleep as well when they’re apart, and nightmares are more disruptive, especially for Shiro, when alone.

Keith lies awake late sometimes, thinking and just unable to quite drift to sleep in a way that somehow Shiro’s warm presence at his side (if not cuddled right up to him) helps. He still sleeps, if only because he must and he’s very practical, but it’s not as restful and he tends to not sleep quite as much when he’s alone in bed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Who wakes up earlier? Do they wake the other, slip out quietly, or just laze contentedly for a while?**

Keith tends to wake up earlier - Shiro, short of something demanding his attention or that he get out of bed, takes a while to wake up properly and process, and likes to sleep in. If not woken by an alert or a nightmare he’s always a bit groggy and confused at first.

By contrast Keith comes awake pretty fully pretty swiftly, and while he’s capable of lazing away the morning or sleeping in, by habit it doesn’t come naturally. If there’s no reason to be up Keith won’t wake Shiro - and if there’s no _reason_ to be up, or anything Keith wants to do, he’ll just stay where he is, quietly in bed with Shiro, at least for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**How do mornings go once they’re awake? (On relaxing days or an average day?)**

Mornings on the Castle of Lions have something of a routine to them - assuming they aren’t jolted awake by an emergency alert, which is its own kind of routine - up, however fast or slow, Keith leaves Shiro with kisses to prepare for the day and goes for a short workout (and then shower) before they meet up with the others for breakfast.

On relaxing days when they actually have the time? They stay tucked up in bed together until they need something badly enough to drive them out. They get little enough time just to themselves, to be cosy and relaxed and _not on guard_ and together without interruptions or disasters, that they both soak it up eagerly (and defend that time determinedly).

**Author's Note:**

> [Send me a ship for this meme on Tumblr?](http://kalira9.tumblr.com/ask) ★ [Or here on Dreamwidth?](https://kalira.dreamwidth.org/3211.html)


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